PM welcomes NIA’s Integrity Champion programme

PRIME MINISTER Andrew Holness has welcomed the National Integrity Action’s (NIA) Integrity Champion programme, which complements the Government’s ongoing drive to stamp out corruption.

Speaking at the certification ceremony for 434 persons trained under the programme at Merl Grove High School in St Andrew on Sunday, he noted that through the programme, anti-corruption measures are being brought down to “the grass-roots (level) to make it a more sustainable movement to support and complement the legislative and prosecutorial actions that the Government is taking”.

Supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the programme, which is being undertaken in collaboration with the Council of Voluntary Social Services, involves the training of trainersin anti-corruption practices.

The prime minister pointed out that the project “is really a profound change” in the strategy being employed to stimulate a new culture of accountability, transparency and anti-corruption in Jamaica.

“There is no doubt that integrity, accountability, and transparency are necessary pillars of any prosperous and progressive society.

Having true ambassadors of integrity will definitely improve and build capacity for local and citizen-based action against corruption,” he said.

Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn (left), Chief Justice Zaila McCalla (centre), and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica Ambassador Malgorzata Wasilewska watch a demonstration of the new video-link technology at a handover...